Hog Projects

Hat Fair Out There

Street theatre came to rural Hampshire this summer when nine villages hosted their very own Hat Fairs as part of Hat Fair Out There, a project by Hog the Limelight and Winchester Hat Fair.

Designed to provide all the elements of outdoor street performance, but in a smaller package suitable for rural communities, Hat Fair Out There provided a mixture a mixture of Hat Fair favourite performances and workshops.

Performers taking part in Hat Fair Out There included: Wet Picnic, Ramshacklicious, Pickled Image, Dizzy O’Dare and Juggling Jake.

A series of summer activities will take place again next year as part of Hog Outdoors.

Poet in the Pub

Pub-goers in rural Hampshire proved their poetry prowess when invited to submit their own rhymes at the Poet in the Pub events with ‘stand up’ comedy poet Elvis McGonagall.

Hog the Limelight, in association with the County’s literature officer and Audiences South, invited Elvis, a regular at comedy and literary festivals all over the country and on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live programme, to visit three rural pubs across the County. The pubs taking part were The Cricketers Arms at Tangley, The Three Horseshoes at Bighton and The Horse & Groom at Woodgreen.

Hog the Limelight usually takes arts events and activities to village halls, however we thought it would be great to get out and about into village pubs. The idea was met with great enthusiasm with more than 100 poems being submitted across all age ranges and covering a wide variety of topics.

Elvis started the evenings by performing some of his own work and then reading poems submitted by the audience – which at Tangley turned into a competition with the loudest cheer for the winning poem.

Poet in the Pub Poems

Tangley is a lovely place
To live in, work and play,
Two pubs, a church and diverse folk,
There’s nowt else I can say

Pots and Margaux, Harvey too
Wellie, Ella and Maisy
Paddy, Mickey, Kwayle, Ted
Fleur, Esme, Daisy
Miffy, Thistle, Strudes and George
Molly, Finn, Lexi
A local pub that won’t have dogs
Is nothing short of crazy!

There was a landlord called Ed
Whose notices were not always read,
As those on the phone,
Found it unlike home
As it cost them a pound instead.

In the heart of Tangley lies The Cricketers Arms
A fabulous pub with many charms.
K9s are welcomed with pork scratching earsWhilst the boys are supping oak-barrelled beers.

IF you can return with a smile to the scene of your loss
And lose once again without getting cross
IF you fumble a run out and can’t take a wicket,
Or hunt for a lost ball deep in the thicket.
IF you can still run and are very keen,
Then you can play cricket at Woodgreen.

Well actually this is too sad
I’m clutching my pencil and pad
Just make up a rhyme
You haven’t much time
Well this one is really quite bad.

A very genteel country town,
A place of charm and grace,
Until the daily traffic jams
Block every inch of space.

Hog in Schools

A pair of rural schools in Hampshire took inspiration from their natural surroundings as the basis for community art projects arranged by Hog the Limelight.

Hyde Primary School, in the New Forest, worked with local residents and groups to produce individual leaves for a metal tree fixed to the side of the school. The sculpture was completed to mark the 125^th anniversary of the school, which is one of the smallest in Hampshire.

Pupils from Droxford School had great fun hammering and decorating metal fish they had designed. They were joined by members of the local community to produce well over a hundred fish which were combined to form a piece of artwork for the school.

The next project will take place in Bordon, with local school children designing banners for the front of the Phoenix Arts Centre.

The Black Box Theatre

Bootworks Theatre, in conjunction with Hog the Limelight, has toured village fetes in Hampshire for two successful seasons with The Good, The Bad and the Box, a family friendly, travelling performance which parodies the spaghetti western.

Lasting up to 5 minutes, with a cast of 6, an audience of one sits inside the box whilst an unlimited number of people watched the performance from outside!